Life's Like That with Andrea Rich

One of my friends recently posted a photo of a bunch of high school graduates on Facebook.

The caption read: "Congratulations! The easiest part of your life is over!"

It gave me a chuckle, because in many ways it's true.

Don't get me wrong: I love my high school memories and have true fondness for some of the teachers I had, the friends I made (and still have) and all the good times that mostly had to do with being in marching band, but I wouldn't go back.

Decades later it's easy to brush off all the things that caused angst: How mean teen girls can be to each other when they want to; feeling left out when you didn't get asked to prom (it was couples only at our school, no going stag); watching the guy you like fall for someone else; not making the final roster cut in a sport... at the time those things were horrible. While many years have come and gone, and many more life changing events have happened, I can honestly say that I don't want to go back to being a teenage girl and be exposed to those things again.

The hard part for my high school graduate this year and in the years to come when my other children graduate, is ahead of them.

They will lose that shelter (which ironically teens usually hate) of someone always watching them. Teachers and mentors at school, parents at home; friends' parents or other adults when they are doing school or extracurricular activities and trips.

There's this giant jump in independence, where even by going off to college they must be responsible for their own behavior, study habits, schedule and lifestyle.

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No one is going to know just by being around them if they're doing things as they should. Sure, their grades will reflect how they're studying and how class attendance is going, but what about the details?

This is me talking, and by details I mean... details.

I fully intend to use social media and technology to further shelter my soon-to-be college student for my own peace of mind.

I won't be right there to ask, "Did you brush your teeth? Are you eating enough fruit? If you use that hair straightener every day you're going to get split ends. If a boy tells you you're cute, and he's drinking from the punch bowl at the party, trust me he won't remember you the next day. Are all your bodily functions happening as they should?"

Now that the tassel was moved to the other side of the graduation cap and the diploma is in pile with graduation cards and gifts, these are the things I'll worry about next, when she's at school.

Potentially she could be on her own.

Since I won't be right there to "interfere" as it's called, I can do it via social media.

For example, she can answer my fiber/bodily function question in a text, or ignore it. If she ignores it I can ask it on Facebook. (If she unfriends me I'll just send a photo of me giving her sister her car.) I can check for split ends and teeth brushing via Skype, right?

"At some point you have to let them go," my husband tells me when I talk about how I'll be a "cool mom" and not ask her about hygiene on Skype when her roommates are around.

I know he believes that letting go is inevitable, but there are degrees of letting go.

Sending care packages of fiber bars might not be letting go very much. This is me taking baby steps.

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Andrea Rich lives in Chambersburg with her wonderful husband, three beautiful children, one dog and one cat.